Hi Chaps, great ride report, been glued to it for the last 10 days. Congrats to all of you for the amazing adventure.

A quick questions to all the guys please, did any of you ever consider using a tire mousse, similar to what the guys on the Dakar use. If not why please, is it a cost consideration or are they just not worth it for these types of trips, I have know idea what a tire mouse costs. Cheers.

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Looking for rides in and around Hungary this summer...

A quick questions to all the guys please, did any of you ever consider using a tire mousse, similar to what the guys on the Dakar use. If not why please, is it a cost consideration or are they just not worth it for these types of trips, I have know idea what a tire mouse costs. Cheers.

I used mousses in the past, when I did the BAM in 2009 for example.

They are expensive, and they are EXTREMELY difficult to mount without both experience and a machine. They are totally unavailable in Siberia. Even in Moscow I have not heard of anyone stocking them.

Also they are not bulletproof ... rear mousses are hollow and filled with air. I punctured my rear mousse in 2009. Making it of very limited use. I had to swap it out for a tube when it ripped.

Interesting to note: KTM's Dakar competition bike uses a carburetor. Is this a Dakar "rule issue", or is KTM simply hedging they're reliability bets and avoiding the complexity of a an FI system (ie: fuel pump).

Its not a rule. I would guess its cause they (KTM) havent got it at a level they are happy with - KTM have always been slow movers to EFI ... later than than all the other major manufacturers. The Honda bikes this year were injected, and two of them were in the top 10. The Husqvarnas were injected, and one of them was in the top 10. Joan Barreda Bort won 4 stages, more than anyone else this year - on his injected Husqvarna. The Yamahas were injected - and two of them were in the top 10.

I think its just a matter of time. Three of the top four marques this year were running injected bikes. Only KTM hasnt made the switch yet. And as mentioned above, KTM is always behind the curve when it comes to injection. They are behind BMW/Husky and the Japanese brands on all their bikes switching to EFI, road bikes, enduro bikes racing bikes. I guess they dont put the same amount of R&D into FI as the other brands.

I think its just a matter of time. Three of the top four marques this year were running injected bikes. Only KTM hasnt made the switch yet. And as mentioned above, KTM is always behind the curve when it comes to injection. They are behind BMW/Husky and the Japanese brands on all their bikes switching to EFI, road bikes, enduro bikes racing bikes. I guess they dont put the same amount of R&D into FI as the other brands.

Also, BMW and Honda have a lot of FI knowledge from their automotive divisions.

EtronX, what can you tell me about that low fender? Where'd you get it? Was it just a straight bolt-on? How'd it hold up?

I got this fender from Pål Anders Ullevålseters mechanic. It is a carbon thing and it is very light. It was not a straight bolt on. It was made for Pål Anders KTM Dakar bike. His bike is quite a bit more narrow in the front suspension compared to the XC. I had a friend build up some kevlar on the outside and then we sanded through. Then we got the width that was needed. It is still very light, but maybe a bit short in the rear. Both Walter and I found some old plastic oil cans in Uoyan that we cut apart and made into front fender extension. This prevented the mud from being thrown up onto the engine and radiator.

I am not quite sure, but I think that the X Country's low front fender will fit straight on.

We summoned a conference on the balconies of our huts, and decided adventure riding still had to be fun where possible, and if it was raining and miserable today then we would take a day off. This time there was no maintenance to do, nothing to work on, so we took a lazy day. Everyone did a lot of blogging. EtronX downloaded a new operating system onto Terry's iphone enabling him to use Russian sim cards. We went and had a look around town. Did some supplies shipping so we were all stacked up with noodles for the BAM Road, and I spent some time going over with the team, what we had ahead of us.

I told the boys that the rough stuff doesnt actually start here, in Severobaikalsk, but we had a good smooth fast road to Novy Uoyan, about 200 km away. From there there was another 200 km to Taksimo that wasnt great, but still not real rugged BAM Road stuff. I told the boys we go to Taksimo in one day. The real BAM adventure begins after Taksimo ...

So basically they had a day's grace before the challenging stuff.

Then in the evening we went for dinner in our local meat restaurant .... then walked home by the northern shores of Lake Baikal.

Naturally the boys looked at this and decided they wanted a swim.

Well I had swum in Baikal before ... I was happy to let the other lads check it out.

Strangely enough, we also stumbled across a rather appropriate viking-esque boat and carvings by the lake ...

Before heading up to our hotel (sorry pics arent sharp ... from a mobile phone)

A quick questions to all the guys please, did any of you ever consider using a tire mousse, similar to what the guys on the Dakar use. If not why please, is it a cost consideration or are they just not worth it for these types of trips, I have know idea what a tire mouse costs. Cheers.

We also looked into mousse, but decided agains it. As Walter said, it is a pain in the neck to change tires.

We left Norway with brand new tires. We used Mefo Super Explorer and heavy duty 4 mm cross tubes inside. The tires and tubes were changed in Krasnoyarsk, but in retrospect that was not needed. We could hardly see that they were worn at all. That was after 9.000 km's on mostly asphalt. The tires would have lasted the whole trip. Thats almost 18.000 km

After Olkhon the proper off roading started. I took some pretty heavy hits to my rims. Hitting rocks in the road at high speed. Some that I was sure would puncture the tubes. Nothing happened. Between us Erik and I had one puncture on the whole trip. That was when Erik hit a spike laying in the road close to the end of the trip.

Mousse suffer a lot from road riding , particularly with loaded bikes. Friends with lot of experience told me that even with dakar-spec mousse 150 kms at 120 kmh on tarmac are enough to destroy it .
Then I tried anyway and got the confirmation (apart the efforts, just the money literally burned away...)